First and formost I just want to express my thanks to everyone on this forum for guiding me to a smooth start. My 75g FOWLER is about a week into cycling and everything for the most part is going smooth. So after all my numbers are where they should be and it's time to add my CUC i'm curious as to the rate in which I add them. I read that i', supposed to get 1 snail (going with turbo's) per gal of water. My CUC will be made up of snails/shrimp. I've heard too many bad things when it comes to the hermit crabs, so i'm going to try to avoid them if possible. So when adding my CUC, because of their very small size, is it possible to add them all in at the same time, or maybe split it up 50/50?

You`ll want to start small as there wont be much for them to eat in the beginning. As your tank matures and you add fish then you can add as needed but if you add too much at the beginning they will starve and some die.

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You`ll want to start small as there wont be much for them to eat in the beginning. As your tank matures and you add fish then you can add as needed but if you add too much at the beginning they will starve and some die.

So with my idea of going turbo snails and cleaner shrimp, at what rate would you add the CUC with my setup? Have about 50lbs of LR, 60lbs of Dry rock in my 75g

I would not start with turbo snails or really any cuc to start with. There's nothing to clean yet so don't worry about it.

Your stocking list is much more imprtant at this point. Once you have a few fish in there then you can start with a small cuc, not the full package deals that everyone want to sell.

Glad to see you want to go with snails and keep the hermits at bay. Thoough the mini- hermits (like the zebras) stay pretty small so they should not do too much damage.

OK, here's the smail list I've compiled from various sources.

Nassarius Snails - Nassarius vibex . They mostly stay in the sand, but will sometimes make short trips up the glass. They are mainly detritus eaters and do an excellent job cleaning and shifting the sand. These are also some of the most hardy snails available. They can flip themselves upright very easily. They are fun to watch as they come bursting out of the sand bed at feeding time.
Onyx Nassarius -Ilyanassa spp. (Black Mud Snail, Black Nassarius Snail ) AVOID THESE though these snails are very good at keeping sand beds completely clean of algae as well as other organics. They may occasionally strip a sand bed of enough nutrients that there will be none left to support copepod or amphipod populations. If you keep dragonets (e.g. Mandarins) that rely on healthy populations of copepods and amphipods do not get these. They are also a cooler water species and may not last that long in higer temp tanks like reef tanks.
Cerith Snails-Cerithium spp. (Cortez) - Good algae and detritus eaters that forage rock, glass, and sand. Some can pick themselves up and some cant.
Cerith Snails (White)- Good algae and detritus eaters that seem to stay in the sand more than the cortez, but can be found on the rock and glass. Once again, some can pick themselves up and others cant. These are good sand bed snails.
Astrea Snails -Astraea tecta: Most common of all saltwater tank snails. They are excellent algae eaters and will forage all over the rock, sand, and glass. These guys fall very easily, can not right themselves, and then die.
Margarita Snail - Margarites pupillus. (Stomatella Limpet Snail, Pearl Snail, Little Margarite Snail, Pearly Topped Snail ) Another snail to add to the algae eating aresnal. Will cruise around on the rock and glass.
Fighting Conchs - Strombus gibberulus. Little vacuum cleaners. One per 2 sq. ft. of sand. They'll eat diatoms and, sometimes, cyano. Get one per 2 sq. feet of tank is what was recommened to me. They tend to disappear behind the rocks for a few days then come back around to the front again.
Nerite Snails - Nerita spp. Mostly a rock and glass snail that are all about the algae. They may crawl above the water line of your tank as they often become exposed in the wild during low tide. Mine usually end up in the sump where they can get above the water line and come back down when they want to.
Turbo Snails : They are big and clumsy. They'll knock over or move anything that isn't glued/nailed down. Actually I had one knock a coral frag that was glued to a a plug right off the plug. But, they will attack hair algea. Mine are now escargot size and I moved them to the sump because they were always knocking corals off the rock and plugs they were attached to.

I would not start with turbo snails or really any cuc to start with. There's nothing to clean yet so don't worry about it.

Your stocking list is much more imprtant at this point. Once you have a few fish in there then you can start with a small cuc, not the full package deals that everyone want to sell.

Glad to see you want to go with snails and keep the hermits at bay. Thoough the mini- hermits (like the zebras) stay pretty small so they should not do too much damage.

Ok so let me just make sure im clear on a few things. So you'd say skip the CUC for now, and go with my first choice of fish? (Which will be two clownfish). Then as my tank matures, start slowly adding in the snails/shrimp right? Once there is more debit for them to eat.

One more thing thats a little off topic. I'm having a lot of issues with sand displacement. My 2 power heads are located in the back two corners of my tank, facing the middle in an X formation. However, even after pointing them up a little more toward the surface, the current in my aquarium is shifting my sand around something terrible. I have a nice patch in the front that is bare glass bottom and the sand is pushed up the sides. In the 2 weeks i've had my tank running i've had to hand level the sand three times. Any way to fix this?

And as of a note for today. About a week into my cycle. Had 10lbs of LR shipped so I needed to be cured(did it in tank), but also bought about 30lbs of already cured LR from my LFS. My reads today dont make sense to me. For the past week my reads were pretty consistent:

Ammonia: .50
Nitrite: Between .25 - .50
Nitrate: Between 5.0 - 10

Today However my Reads are:

Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0 - 10

Why would my Nitrite drop to 0 with still some traces of ammonia left? And is it ok that my Nitrate has stayed the same all week?

Your tank s brand new and you are just starting to build up the bacteria colony. Sand will blow around until it is coated with bacteria. It will then tend to settle rapidly when disturbed (within a few minutes).
It sounds like you have good flow, thoough the ph on the left could point up a bit more. It seems that the water surgace on the left side of the tank is rather still. You really want to have a rough surface to help with the Oxygen exchange.
I have seen many tanks in the better stores where that front middle of the tank is bare to the glass. Good flow may do that. On the left side of my tank the sand is much higher than the middle.

You are probably experiencing a mini cycle after the LR addition.. Just let things happen over the next few weeks.